Childhood fears are often deeply personal in their internal manifestation, but many are universal in their external form; the fear of the dark and the monsters lurking in that unknown void is one of the most common. "Dust Bunny," the first feature film from prolific television creator Bryan Fuller ("Wonder Falls," "Pushing Daisies," "Hannibal"), starts with a simple question: "What if the monster under the bed is real?" and creates a thrilling and emotional action-horror comedy that effortlessly brings his signature blend of whimsical maximalism and macabre humor to the big screen.
The film stars newcomer Sophie Sloan as Aurora, a young girl whose belief in the monster under her bed is so strong that the creature comes to life, first as a cute but sinister rabbit-shaped dustbin, before transforming into a gigantic, hairy, piranha-like menace that devours people in a single bite, brought to life by exciting CGI-enhanced puppetry. When her parents don't believe her, she asks a shooting star for help in killing the beast.
Director: Bryan Fuller
Writer: Bryan Fuller
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sophie Sloan, Sheila Atim
Enter Resident 5B, played with irrepressible charm and agility by Mads Mikkelsen, a longtime Fuller collaborator and Aurora's neighbor. Convinced she saw him kill a dragon in Chinatown one night, Aurora tries to hire him to kill the monster under her bed after it ate her parents. Despite the chaos in her apartment, the man, like everyone else in her life, dismisses her fears as the product of an overactive imagination. But because of his true profession—he's a hired assassin—he believes that perhaps one of his monsters accidentally killed her parents, mistaking him for the monster, and that it will come for Aurora.
The rest of the film unfolds as a blend of "Léon: The Professional," "Poltergeist," "The City of Lost Children," and "John Wick," where Resident 5B battles monsters and men, bonds with the little girl while dismembering a hitman's body, and protects her from the wrath of a mysterious and ruthless assassin, played by Sigourney Weaver, who channels her hilarious and venomous Oscar-nominated performance from "Working Girl." David Dastmalchian also lends his uniquely eccentric personality to the film's final act as one of the many hitmen who join Resident 5B, while the supernatural Sheila Atim rounds out the cast as an FBI agent who exudes Pam Grier's signature energy.
Fuller has mixed a great deal in terms of themes, imagery, and characters, and the result is exactly what you'd expect from a Fullerian take on a (more or less) family-friendly horror film. Filmed in Hungary, most of the action takes place in the luxurious apartment building where Aurora and Resident 5B live—a pre-war building with spiral staircases, thick wallpaper, and a classic elevator with a front door. The art direction evokes the opulence of "Hannibal's" third season with the vibrant color palette of "Pushing Daisies." Viewers familiar with Fuller's television work will not be surprised by the numerous shots of mouthwatering food, including a dim sum that resembles an adorable bunny, designed by Janice Poon, whose work on "Hannibal" was the perfect finishing touch to its aesthetically terrifying atmosphere.
Cinematography by Nicole Hirsch Whitaker recreates the film's colorful imagery with a fairytale touch, emphasizing the maximalism of the production design, though often subtly distorting edges to give the framing a dreamlike quality. Traditional filmmaking techniques such as split dioptric shots, iris sweeps, and chiaroscuro lighting add a touch of maximalism to the plot. Eccentric details, like rabbit dim sum that moves slightly before being eaten, a stuffed chicken with an egg on its rear end as a lamp, and a church choir in Pan Am-style uniforms, place "Dust Bunny" firmly within the whimsical world of the Fullerverse, even if it seems excessive to the uninitiated.
Mikkelsen, in one of the most tender performances of his career, and Sloan, whose expressive eyes remain incredibly wide throughout the film, create a fluid chemistry, with a sharp wit that perfectly complements hers. At the end of the film, a recurring joke about Resident 5B, who, due to his thick Danish accent, can't pronounce Aurora's name, evolves into a tender gesture between the two, who form a new family from the fragments of their own.
Despite all its cinematic touches, this is a sweet film at its core, interested in the darker side of childhood—not just the fears we have as children, but also anger. The ending might not appeal to everyone; it's obvious and a bit simplistic, but as someone who struggled with anger as a child, I felt it deeply. We all carry our childhood monsters into adulthood, whether we like to admit it or not. For Fuller, the best thing we can do is accept that part of ourselves and find more constructive ways to nurture it, like creating emotionally resonant, visually dazzling, and ridiculously horrifying art about the power of chosen family.
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